Friday, July 18, 2003

Which way?



I left Colorado a couple of months ago for two main reasons: one, I was out of money, and two, I wasn't getting my minimum weekly requirement of interesting social interaction. There was also the contributing factor that I missed the ocean, a lot. So I bid adieu to my beautiful house in the mountains and drove southwest until I hit ocean. Which brings me here, San Diego. It's been a good thing for a couple of months; good to have old and new people to play with. And I've been working as a scientific consultant for a science fiction film, making decent money. But one of the main things that brought me here is also driving me away: there are just too many people. San Diego has become, to me, unbearably crowded. The roads are jammed, the surf is crowded, and the water is getting murky from all the pollution. It sucks. It's turning into Los Angeles down here, I can feel it. And there are the little signs too, like people walking around, in malls or city areas, ignoring each other, like in other big cities. Motorcyclists don't wave to each other any more when they pass. So, I don't think I'm going to stay more than another couple of months, money and social opportunities or not.

So, where to? It's hard being a P. My original intent was to go back to Maui, any way I could. And that's still an option I'm considering. It's beautiful there, and it feels really good, just to play in that ocean alone is worth sacrificing a lot. But it's my brain that pays the price. Looking back over it, I hardly got a lick of good physics done while I was on that island, even when I was in a stable living situation and spending a lot of time working on it. Maybe it's just the caressing tropical breezes that make my IQ drop twenty points. It feels good, and it's beautiful, and healthy, but it's just not a mentally productive environment. So, I've been thinking, maybe I'll go back to Colorado? I called the owner of the house -- it's vacant and he seems happy to rent to me again. Heh, I think he's amused to have a pet physicist. It's a great place, unbeatable. And the mountains still have cheap season ski passes. But it's lonely. I've gone months there without having a real conversation with another human. What I'd really love is for E, the girl in Vermont who came out to visit me, to move there with me -- but she won't leave her life back east. :( So, if I go, I'll be a hermit again. Doing physics and snowboarding every day, cooking, talking to people on the net, soaking in the hot tub -- maybe I'll subscribe to NetFlix and watch a lot of DVD's on that great entertainment system.

But, Maui... I have to go back, even if just for a little while. Maybe I'll do both -- Maui for three or four weeks, maybe September, then back to Colorado. But once I get to Colorado I'm going to have to try harder to get friends to come visit me out there... Hey, you, reading this, come spend some time in Colorado next season, damn it! The place is quiet and beautiful, snow is good, and I can cook alright, hmm? You know, if there were more bums like me roaming the country, I'd have to be kicking me out of that house all the time. Heh.

Well, good to have these options to play with I suppose. Heh, I'll probably end up somewhere completely different. Life is funny like that.

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gar@lisi.com